


Saturday

by ai_firestarter



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Backstory, Cute Kids, F/F, Headcanon, LaFerry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-19 12:00:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_firestarter/pseuds/ai_firestarter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Christmas came, all the other kids dreamed of ponies and dolls... and all Lola Perry wanted was for everything to be clean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saturday

She hates to be a cliche, but her mother was a slob.

Dishes piled precariously in the sink (they didn't own a dishwasher). Piles of dirty clothes throughout the house (the washer/dryer was frequently broken). A layer of matted fur on the carpet from her mother's four cats (the vaccuum was-- you get the picture).

When Christmas came, all the other kids dreamed of ponies and dolls... and all Lola Perry wanted was for everything to be clean.

A small house in a small neighbourhood. Nobody had much money, so it was all in what you did with it. Her mother tended to spend theirs on alcohol, though often she'd splurge and buy Lola a new outfit, a snack, a bunch of toys. And Lola would look at the broken clothes washer, the broken vaccuum, the dirty dishes, and so every gift just made her stomach ache with guilt.

(Even now, she can't stand to receive gifts. Sus-- LaFontaine has taken to spending her birthday making Lola laugh and getting the both of them drunk -- the only time she _ever_ drinks, in fact. And if she's honest, she prefers this exponentially to kitsch from a wish list.)

Though they were neighbours from four years old, Lola never invited Susan - back when she _was_ Susan - over to play. She wanted to, oh how she wanted to extend the courtesy to Susan that the LaFontaines had extended to her for many years - but the house was never suitable. Lola would clean and clean, but with homework and sleep, there just was never enough time.

They were nine when Susan came across her rolling a wagon full of dirty clothes down the sidewalk and asked her to come over and play. Lola explained, as best she could, that she was unavailable. That it was blocks to the closest laundromat, and that she only had room in her wagon for a couple loads, so she'd have to make three trips. Laundry was going to take up all of Saturday.

After a few questions - _"What's a laundromat?", "Why are you doing this instead of having fun"_ and the like - Susan told her to wait. And then she returned, five minutes later, with a wagon of her own. She wanted to help.

And so, after a few minutes of fretting, Lola Perry took Susan LaFontaine to her house for the first time.

She made Susan stay outside, and went in to gather as many clothes as would fit. To her surprise, everything did; Susan's wagon was bigger and deeper (if a lot more roughed-up). She even pulled the jeans out that were lying underneath her sleeping mother, tangled in the sheets. Her mother didn't even notice.

Then, they walked the way to the laundromat together, waited at the laundromat together, and walked home together. And they talked the entire time.

About birthdays, and about presents, and family. About Lola wishing her mother would skip the dolls and spend the day with her instead. How Susan had gotten barbies since she was a kid even though she wanted dinosaurs, and had traded Tommy on the playground for his T-Rex and how his parents had called her parents about it. How Lola wasn't sure her stepdad even liked her, let alone loved her the way he said he did. How Susan didn't _"feel"_ like a Susan but didn't want to make her mom sad.

And when they got back, garbage bags full of clean clothes, Susan asked to come in.

Lola warned her that the afternoon was going to be cleaning time, because Monday would come faster than expected, it always did. Susan said fine, and maybe if it was okay, she would help Lola clean? And then maybe, if they got it done, Lola could come with her and her mom and dad to get ice cream Sunday instead of cleaning all day?

And Lola cried.

It was just so much feeling at once. Relief that someone could help her. That they would even volunteer, that they cared. That she wasn't alone trying to catch up on stuff that _never_ got finished.

Plus, she really liked ice cream.

And so, they went inside together and cleaned the whole house together. And even if Susan didn't know a broom from a mop, just having her there - telling jokes and poking at mold with wide, fascinated eyes - made the whole thing fly by.

Now, many years later, Perry looks back at that moment and realises that LaFontaine - back when she was Susan, so long ago - saved her. Saved her from a life of thinking that she had to take care of everything and everyone alone. Now, she could help everyone, and she could draw strength from LaFontaine. Strength she sorely needed, sometimes. Many times.

And now at Christmas, when Perry calls home - when her mother apologises and cries about how much she misses her little girl, and begs forgiveness for the student debt that Perry's taken on - Perry means it when she says, "I love you, and I miss you, and I'll see you soon."

After all, somebody has to cook the turkey and bring treats for the (now ancient) cats. And she even likes taking care of her mother, who is a little better now, and tries a lot harder. Perry even thinks of having kids someday. She imagines little rascals, hiding behind LaFontaine's leg from punishment for this or that mess, but always knowing that she loves them. Science camp and cooking classes. Dance and hiking. Barbies and dinosaurs. Everything under the sun.

And when Perry comes home to a cleaned dorm after a long day, and LaFontaine with a tall bottle of Peach Schnapps and the world's brightest smile, Perry can't help but thank the gods her birthday is on a Saturday.


End file.
